Chapter Text
So this is it.
With everything covered for the cautiously crafted plan the Blade of Marmora put together after more than a millennia, this is going to be Voltron’s last mission.
Keith is the last one standing, watching the sunset on the Olkari planet, the same place where everyone was joking and wondering about what they would do once the war was over just some moments ago. He supposes that, now that he is sure he has some family out there, he could go and start that journey by himself.
Nobody is waiting for him back on Earth anyway, and he is not exactly bothered by this. He was expelled from the Garrison when Shiro disappeared on the Kerberos mission, and Keith didn’t plan to go back to that place, either. Yeah, Shiro is back and, even if he is not sure what Shiro is planning to do (he didn’t share his thoughts with the rest of the team but Keith doesn’t think that’s weird coming from him, as Shiro is very private about his own personal affairs), Keith feels he needs to do this.
To explore the stars like he daydreamed back in the good days and search for his mother. Even if he is bound to do it alone. Because he is comfortable with the rest, he will probably miss Hunk’s antics and Pidge’s enthusiast rants about thermodynamics. Even maybe headbutting from time to time with Lance, even if he won’t admit such a thing. But they all have something else that is a part of their lives. Keith doesn’t.
Keith only has Shiro. Then and now, it is only him in his life.
But Keith is also realistic and he cannot ask of him things Keith knows Shiro can’t give him. He cannot expect Shiro to drop everything he wanted to do, he dreamed of, to stay at his side, with him. Because Shiro was deprived of the life he had, before all this started, and he deserves to pick it up where he left it.
After all the traumatic experiences he had to endure on that Galra ship, Shiro only deserves good and peace when this is all over.
But Keith only wants Shiro. Then and now, he has always wanted only him.
“Hey, still here?” Keith could recognize his voice anywhere. “I thought we were going back to get ready for tomorrow.”
Keith is sitting on the same spot, hasn't moved from where he was standing before with everyone. When he turns his head around to look at Shiro it’s with a small soft smile on his face, already knowing it’s him.
“Yeah. I just wanted to be alone for a bit.”
“Do you want me to–?”
Keith stifles a snort and looks at him like Shiro said the pigs back on Earth could always fly.
“No, it’s good. It’s good if it’s you.” He doesn’t have to clarify really, but Shiro seems to accept it, giving Keith the same soft smile, and then approaches him to sit at his side.
“How are you feeling?”
“Well. Considering it's gonna be our most important and dangerous battle, I’m doing quite nicely.”
“It's you we are talking about here, so I can't say I’m surprised. I think I've never seen you afraid of anything.”
Keith knows that’s not a complete truth. He has been afraid of a lot of stuff and Shiro is aware of all of it. Actually, Keith still is. Shiro may even know about the few new ones too, after what happened at the Blades headquarters. But Shiro is always good to him, and he gives Keith space.
“I just asked because I wanted to know from you.”
So Keith nods, and understands that knowing about his thoughts is important for Shiro. This is not something new, it has been like this since they met. Shiro always supports Keith, no matter what happens or how he has to do it. When the fact that Keith was actually part alien was thrown at him? Shiro didn’t even bat an eye. Shiro is always there for him, giving him a reason to keep going.
Maybe that’s why Keith longs so much for him, even more now than their Garrison days.
“Then, about what you said before… Are you going to do it?”
“Mh?”
“To search for your family.”
“Oh.”
Keith remembers he said “I guess”. Maybe that’s why Shiro isn't asking him so directly, as to not force Keith to give a definitive answer if he is not ready yet.
“I think I left the Blades Headquarters with more questions than answers. So…”
“That is okay. I’m sure you will find what you are looking for. It’s waiting out there for you.”
Keith can’t look at him now with that lump he feels he's holding in his throat. Shiro realizes this because there’s usually a comfortable silence between them, but this time, it feels more heavy. So Shiro keeps talking.
“You would probably think I'd want to go back, too. Because, you know, I love piloting but,” He makes a little pause and Keith looks at him, “Yeah, I think I spent too much time in space for my own good.”
Oh, yes. Shiro’s dark humor to cope with things. Keith already knows it. So he scoffs a bit, trying not to think about what that implies.
“Yes, you deserve a long, and maybe even lifetime-lasting, break after this.”
“Probably.” And Shiro looks at the sunset. The light on his face makes him look even more handsome in Keith's eyes. “But I still have things to do here.”
“Huh?”
And it's Shiro's turn to turn and face him, again, with that soft, comforting smile on him.
“Would you let me come with you?”
Keith is so taken aback that he drops his jaw a tiny bit, completely caught off guard by Shiro’s question. He even swallows hard when he is able to close his mouth and tries to fight back his sudden nervousness.
“W-What? Why?”
“Am I overstepping? Sorry, that’s why I wanted to–”
“No!” Keith even moves a bit from his spot, too ready to assure Shiro that isn’t what his reaction meant. “Of course not. I am just– Why would you want to come with me? You have things waiting for you on Earth. And I–” The sudden urgency disappearing from his face, Keith returns to his original position, looking down. “I don’t have anything.”
With Shiro, it was impossible to try and hide things from him. At least for Keith. All his feelings and thoughts spill every time that Shiro wants to talk with him, and he doesn’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing right now.
“You are talking like I have everything to lose if I go with you, Keith.”
Then he remembers Shiro is always direct when he needs to be. Because Keith is not a baby, he can handle things, Keith told him once.
“It’s not that. I just don’t want you to feel like you should have to do it, only because it’s the right thing to do.” Because Keith is alone, because poor Keith . But what he just said doesn’t really sound correct to him, it’s not what he is trying to say. So Keith tries again. “No. I mean, I don’t want to keep you apart from your life even more. Something like that. I think.”
Shiro is patient and he waits until Keith finishes to try and explain himself. When he feels he is done, Shiro puts one of his hands on Keith’s shoulder, one of his close, familiar touches.
“I came and sat to talk to you on my own, right? Because I wanted to.” Shiro is always gentle but never tries to lie to him, so Keith believes him. “This is the same. I asked to go with you because I want to, not because I feel I have to. You are a choice, not a responsibility. You never have been.”
And Keith looks at him with big, hopeful eyes. Shiro slides his arm, sitting closer, and wrapping it around Keith’s shoulders. It’s a comfortable, protective embrace, and Keith wants to lean on him and stay like that forever. It doesn’t seem fair that they have to march to war the next day.
“Would you let me come with you, Keith?”
Shiro asks him again so Keith can give him his answer, never forcing him to agree on anything if Keith doesn’t want to. His tone is softer because of the closeness, but it also makes it feel more intimate. Keith’s heart speeds up and drums sweetly on his chest.
“I really want you to come with me, please.”
It feels like a confession, it is one , Keith thinks. But he can’t tell Shiro so directly, not right now. He is still too afraid of things, so it’s enough for now. They end leaning a bit until their heads touch and they don’t need to say more about it.
Of course, until Shiro returns with his characteristic humor.
“Besides, after the warm welcoming the Garrison gave me when I briefly came back bringing doom news about an evil Empire, I think I can take a bit more time before I decide to see them again. I will stay with you, thanks.”
Now Keith laughs, kind of amused with the ironic image on his head. Shiro seems satisfied with that and pats Keith’s back, moving away from the embrace to stand up.
“C’mon, we should get inside and get some rest. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow and Slav was already bombarding us with his calculus about the low percentage of possibilities of surviving in this reality. Or something like that.”
“Wow.” Keith whistles, in a joking manner as well, while getting up. “He knows how to hype us up, huh?”
“So it seems.” They start to walk to the door, leaving the scenery behind them. “But we can do this. Let’s end the war.”
Next day, as they said, the battle to save the universe from the claws of an evil Empire begins. They carry out every single step they could plan out and they are the closest they have ever been from their goal. But it doesn’t end as they expect.
They can’t do it and they don’t end the war.
Keith is exhausted and he drags his feet across the deserted planet their busted lions crashed on just some moments ago. The plan failed and so did their fight against Zarkon.
It’s the first time Keith really sees them destroyed. Not just out of power or with some type of temporary shut down. They are done. Red’s half body was torn apart as he impacted on the surface and Black’s pilot cabin cracked open as easily as an egg. The visuals he had of the rest of the lions weren’t any better and about the Castle of Lions… well– There was no response. From anyone.
He is tired and out of breath but even if his knees tremble with each step, he doesn’t give up. Not yet. Not with the additional weight of Shiro’s body hanging on his shoulders.
The sky is orange and the dust under them is red, a trail of footsteps points at them from the sinister landing. Of course, there is no sight of any cover in a kilometer around. No possibility of help. No shelter and no hope. Nowhere to run.
So he keeps walking. That’s the only thing he can do.
Shiro is weak and he is bleeding badly from his leg and head. Keith himself has a severe cut on one of his shoulders, but he is still alive and that’s the only thing Keith can focus on. If there was even a remote possibility of them coming out of it alive, even if it’s just the two of them, then he will take it.
Still, he can hear a ship landing in the distance at his back.
And yet, he keeps walking. He pushes himself and carries Shiro with all the strength left in him. It’s not over yet if we are still breathing , he tells himself.
He cannot even stop and realize how the scenery reminds him of his home, his shack, back on earth. The ample canyon desert where Shiro and he raced for hours, where he shared with him parts of himself Keith never shared with others.
It was like everything had started there, and everything could end there as well, because their trail is too evident, he is out of energy and he hears the Galra approaching.
“Keith–”
Shiro speaks, feverish, just a tiny part of the confident tone Shiro always has for Keith.
“It’s gonna be okay.”
“They are here...”
He hears their weapons getting ready, closer. They are shortening the distance at a pace Keith cannot keep with.
“It’s okay. I will not give up on us.”
He is grunting now, the air not reaching his lungs anymore.
At the first fire, Keith jerks his body and shields Shiro from the danger with a roar more fitting for a beast than a human. He ends up throwing Shiro behind him in a protective demeanor while lifting his almost ruined barrier shield. Then he deploys his bayard into his red sword and launches an offensive.
Shiro slides across the reddish sand with a breathless gasp, too wounded to move, and Keith easily slices the Galra droids from the patrol sent to find them. He has no lion, no team, he has nothing but he still can fight, he tells himself. He’s always been fighting for survival at any point in his life and this is no different.
But god, he is tired. He is so tired. His body moves almost by itself instinctively. It’s victory or death.
Shiro coughs and Keith turns around instantly to look at him, which earns Keith a blast in one of his sides that busts his already cracked plate chest armor. It sends a stream of pain across his body and also makes him lose balance. He cries from frustration, fear and pure pain. Keith stays still for a moment, but then launches himself against one of the soldiers when they dare to target Shiro.
And he keeps roaring like a cornered beast.
The remaining ones from the patrol also get struck by Keith's sword and deadly movements, boosted by this renewed protective and survival impulse. Once he is done, there is nothing left except the dying noises of his enemies, Keith’s glowing yellow eyes and sharp fangs.
And Shiro. Shiro is dying.
“Shiro… Shiro!! No, no, no–”
Keith’s bayard retreats and his expression changes in milliseconds.
He looks desperate and worried and so, so scared.
Shiro is hardly breathing now, a pool of blood under the wound of his thigh. Keith presses there as much as he can because the improvised tourniquet he put there earlier is now useless.
“Okay. Okay I– I can stop this.” He cannot stop it.
“Keith–”
Shiro is trying to tell him something with the little energy he has left, but Keith cannot listen. Doesn’t want to listen. If he does, he knows deep down it will be the last time he’ll listen to Shiro.
“No! I– !! I can do this. I know I can. I’m not going to leave you!!”
Because he knows that is what Shiro is asking him with his eyes. Keith loves those eyes and he cannot bear to see them ask him that.
Then, Shiro reaches for him, touches him as lightly as a feather, and Keith grips his hand like a lifeline.
“Hey. It’s okay…”
Now he’s the one trying to reassure Keith, but Keith already started to tear up over him. He starts to cradle Shiro with his other arm and pillows his head on his lap, to make him as comfortable as he can.
Shiro is dying.
“Shiro–”
“You did so good, baby.”
“I’m– I’m so sorry” He bawls at the soft, pet name directed at him. It’s the first time he hears it and Keith wants to believe it implies so much that he is unable to contain himself and all the things he is feeling anymore. “This is my fault. I screwed up and now you– And everyone– Fuck, I–. I’m so fucking useless.”
“Shh… Not true.” He is able to calm down Keith with his soft tone and the sweetness of his words and, for a brief moment, while their eyes meet, nothing exists but them. There is nothing else than pure adoration and devotion and Shiro smiles. “Listen… It will be alright. Next time.”
It sounds like a crazy promise, a way to just comfort him, even if impossible. But Keith takes these words as an absolute truth and places them in his heart behind lock and key. He knows he will never see Shiro again and yet he chooses to believe him and longs for a possibility to meet Shiro one more time. Next time. In another place, another time.
“So, until next time… Thank you. For staying with me.”
Keith closes his eyes and presses their foreheads together, but when he moves again and tries to find his eyes, Shiro seems asleep. His labored breathing is gone.
“Shiro?”
Panic bubbles on Keith's stomach and it makes him want to throw up.
“Shiro, open your eyes. C’mon, you cannot– Shiro! ”
Keith calls in a desperate attempt for a response, in the middle of a field of pure destruction and cradling the inert body of the most important person of his life.
“Just, please. Please. Look at me, say something. Please …”
He calls and begs now, trembling like a newborn fawn that has to be alone in the world from now on.
“I cannot do this without you. I– Shiro, please… Don’t leave me. ”
Keith calls, begs and sobs inconsolably. And Shiro is unresponsive. He finally looks peaceful, beautiful, yet the reality is much more horrible and painful.
Shiro is dead.
Keith knows this and yet his brain seems to not accept this fact. His entire body rejects the whole idea, so he keeps crying, broken, over his body. But as much as he wants to call, to plead and to cry over him, asking to please, stay with him, there's nothing he can do. He doesn’t want another place or another time. He wants Shiro to live now . But Shiro is gone and Keith is useless. There’s no one left and they will never go back to their homes, while he still has nowhere to go. So there he sits, pathetically breathing.
He curls up and when he hears more ships invade the sky, landing, and heavy steps approaching from his back once more, he is sure he will follow Shiro soon. He is unable to leave him in the middle of nowhere.
For a moment, there’s a silence that is even merciful for his mind, but he knows that only carries doom, like the calm before the storm. He couldn’t care less for the storm now, though.
He is tired, heartbroken and he doesn’t want to fight anymore. He wants to give up.
But his body moves on his own as he still protects Shiro’s body from the countless soldiers he has now behind him.
The trails of his tears keep running down his cheeks, and Keith knows that’s his end. Captured or dead, it’s the same for him now.
The enemy's weapons click ready to attack if needed. There’s someone shouting orders.
Keith looks at Shiro one last time. He is so hopelessly in love with him. He wishes with all his might they could go to find Keith's family, together. Return to Earth, together. Finding their place, together.
Keith wishes with all his might he could’ve saved Shiro.
If he could see him again, he would save Shiro.
When he sees him again, he will definitely save Shiro.
And suddenly he screams for everything he has lost, the area is filled with a blindly light that devours everything and soon, his sense of reality gets out of control.
It feels like only seconds passed but when he opens his eyes again, the yellow and red scenery is the same around him, except there is no one and he is alone. No destruction, no Galra and no Shiro.